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Cyclone to Become Less Fun

The charm of Coney Island’s Cyclone roller coaster is its age. As I wrote last year:

The Cyclone still terrifies riders with an inherent threat its modernized rivals lack—collapsibility. As croaking chains pull you up those slatted-wood tracks, your faith in that metal bar pinning you to your seat starts to waver: surely this security mechanism won’t hold? Surely nothing so old could be safe? The Cyclone may never flip you upside down, or spin you through a loop-the-loop, but we have more faith in the stability of its Six Flags upstagers. When you climb into the Cyclone’s carriages, you worry the whole structure might buckle under your weight.

But new upgrades to the ride could strip it of this danger-courting allure.

This month, the owners of Luna Park—who operate the ride, which is owned by the city—will begin replacing sections of track that have been worn-down, Brooklyn Daily reports, so that it will ride “more like a Cadillac than a Jeep.” It hasn’t had any major upgrades since the 1970s. Of course, fans are bummed out. “The changes will take away that shake, rattle and roll,” one tells Brooklyn Daily.